Mass Effect

[Stendarr]

And every game not released by the heavyweight publishers get thrown down the drain for no good reason. I think calling professional reviewers actual reviewers would be overestimating them. More like advertisers.

There's two things which disgust me about the "anti-piracy" thing. 1. it's not fair play at all. Didn't they get the message? It's too damn expensive! But obviously, they'd prefer to use their money to fight piracy than actually give fair prices people would be pay for. Because in a market like ours with unlimited products and quite limited income, you have to give us an incentive to pay for something. So people will only buy "AAA" titles. The prices are pure theft. 2. It's not so much about piracy that it's about control.

[The Tom]

While I'd hate to admit that some of the entries on the Metacritic page are trolls, a few are too good not to laugh at:

This is how you Britney Spears a Nina Simone.

[Stormborn]

As I stated earlier I was fully expecting to be disappointed with ME3. Up until Priority: Thessia, I was pleasantly surprised the game was almost living up to the hype. A bit samey in places and the dream sequences were tosh, wonder how much worthwhile content got cut to fit them. Then the problems kick in! The prelaunch DLC controversy, it wasn't great and adds nothing to game and was completely inessential (total cash cow in other words) has nothing on the ending fiasco. Bioware just shat in my face whilst [&@%!] me in the arse with a chainsaw. Unless you intend to play the multiplayer

Spoiler:

Shepherd dies and there is nothing you can do about it, I don't mind a character dying because of how I played but to give me no choice about it now that stings more than a bit, I spend £40 on a game that I can't even complete.

[&@%!] you very much Bioware!

P.S. The sex scenes are still hilarious - once again wonder what they cut to fit this garbage in

[POMC S117]

Bioware just shat in my face whilst [&@%!] me in the arse with a chainsaw.

Odd way to show their love.

I'm buying this because I want do find out what the ending is.

[The Tom]

Well now that the ending has been partially ruined for me (thanks a lot man) I may as well get the game out of the way. Right now it's Mass Effect, not too bad, not amazing, just like it's always been. The writing isn't too bad and there's enough jokes to keep EDI and Joker at the top of my favourite characters. The gunplay is better and I feel a compulsive urge to upgrade absolutely everything, which is how I like it. As long as I don't get bored I'm going to drag it out as long as I can and finish every last mission. It's not as bad as the user reviews would suggest, but the whole money-grabbing thing still stings.

[Veck]

I'm going through the videos up of it right now and the good bits of dialogue seem to be Bioware's classic calling cards: amusing moments (often references to the first two games in this case) and heartwrenchers. Some of the more sombre or ordinary dialogue seems a little... bland. There's just not much substance to it, but I guess the first two games were often like that as well.

[Dark Lord Cam]

The end:

>.<

[born2beagator]

As I stated earlier I was fully expecting to be disappointed with ME3. Up until Priority: Thessia, I was pleasantly surprised the game was almost living up to the hype. A bit samey in places and the dream sequences were tosh, wonder how much worthwhile content got cut to fit them. Then the problems kick in! The prelaunch DLC controversy, it wasn't great and adds nothing to game and was completely inessential (total cash cow in other words) has nothing on the ending fiasco. Bioware just shat in my face whilst [&@%!] me in the arse with a chainsaw. Unless you intend to play the multiplayer

Spoiler:

Shepherd dies and there is nothing you can do about it, I don't mind a character dying because of how I played but to give me no choice about it now that stings more than a bit, I spend £40 on a game that I can't even complete.

[&@%!] you very much Bioware!

P.S. The sex scenes are still hilarious - once again wonder what they cut to fit this garbage in

I don't think you have to play multiplayer to get the best ending. I think you have to have 4000 or 5000 EMS

[Arch-Mage Matt]

The game was great, but the ending... I just... I don't know what to say.

[The Raven]

Can someone pm me the me3 ending?

[Stormborn]

Well now that the ending has been partially ruined for me (thanks a lot man) I may as well get the game out of the way. Right now it's Mass Effect, not too bad, not amazing, just like it's always been. The writing isn't too bad and there's enough jokes to keep EDI and Joker at the top of my favourite characters. The gunplay is better and I feel a compulsive urge to upgrade absolutely everything, which is how I like it. As long as I don't get bored I'm going to drag it out as long as I can and finish every last mission. It's not as bad as the user reviews would suggest, but the whole money-grabbing thing still stings.

I'm sorry if I spoilt the ending for you. My reasoning behind it was that I didn't want anyone to waste their money on a game that forces you to play multiplayer. Multiplayer makes up 50% of your defense funding which can drastically affect the ending choices you get. This is the second game (Dragon Age 2 is the other) that Bioware have screwed up the ending on, they just rush through the last portion of the game.

Also I had forgotten to take (I had been up since 7 am UK time on friday playin ME3) my medication so I wasn't to rational yesterday.

[Stormborn]

[[/quote]I don't think you have to play multiplayer to get the best ending. I think you have to have 4000 or 5000 EMS[/quote]
Unfortunately, multiplayer is is 50% of the EMS, so your ending choices are limited without it.

[Stormborn]

Can someone pm me the me3 ending?

I would if I knew how to, plus there are 16 possible endings depending on your previous save games and what you EMS is.

[Red Guardian]

The deal with the multiplayer and the ending... What a turn off. I seriosuly hope this is a lie or something.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

My theory (hope) is that it is indeed a lie.

Spoiler:

So many things don't add up with the ending. You hear reports that "Everyone was wiped out" yet no one noticed that Shepard and Anderson make it to the beam thing. Then Shepard is mysteriously able to survive in space with the starchildghostgod. And your two squadmates that get blasted mysteriously end up on the Normandy. What if everything was an indoctrinated vision from Harbinger to prevent Shepard from activating the Crucible? In DLC, it would be fixed by saving Shepard and activating the Crucible for real.

[Kestral]

I will give my two cents about Mass Effect 3 and this whole Prothean Fiasco

I am 20 hours in, and it is a damn good game. A fantastic game. I'm more engrossed in the characters than ever and I am glad that the series is at a point where I can see what I've done in previous games has made a difference. I got the game on its release day, and I decided to pay an extra ten dollars for Javik. I knew of the debate, but as a big fan of the series, I had to get it.

Now I want to address some of the arguments, the arguments that EA/Bioware released an incomplete game on day one and decided to charge people extra for it to get more money. This argument is troubling to me, since it decredits Bioware's own involvement in this. Todd Howard has said that great developers make great games, and Bioware is no different. No game made by Bioware in a long time has been below-standard, even Dragon Age 2 was a good game (Though it only disappointed because it wasn't as good as people expected), and it its unquestionable that they have a loyalty to fans. The developers have said it themselves, but that does seem more troubling in light of recent events.

It seems that someone has found out that Javik is located on the game disc without the DLC. If you edit a single line in a random text file, you enable him your game. The very short clip that he provided even had a line or two of Javik's dialogue. However, I remember downloading the DLC on the 6th myself, though, and the size of the thing about 600-800MB, somewhere short of a GB. This has lead to even more complaints by gamers in this whole mess.

But here's what I think: the original uploader of the video clip never proved that it is the DLC in its entirety, and we only heard one line of dialogue (If I remember correctly, it was a normal "OK," response when you tell him to go somewhere). The DLC itself contains maps and much more sound files of Shepard, Javik, and other NPCs or companions, and a weapon or two. This is equatable to a test asset in the game itself, similar to the testingcells from Oblivion or Fallout. It is also comparable to the topless texture from Oblivion as well. They didn't exist in actual gameplay, but were in for development or testing purposes. (The topless texture , I believe, may have been in there originally. But then Bethesda simply added a bra texture over it in the actual game)

Mass Effect 3 was also delayed a few times before release and EA or Bioware have said, before the release of Mass Effect 3, that the "From Ashes" DLC was being developed by a different developer. The DLC was developed during Mass Effect's own development separately, but both teams obviously need to work in tandem to make sure that the two products work with each other. Now, imagine that we're back in May and still expecting that ME3 will come out sometime around Christmas. The game itself was to be released around Christmas and the DLC was going to be separate.

It is wholly possible that that as the delay occurred, the two teams put their heads together and thought: "My game is now being pushed to your release window! Let's release at the same time!" This explains why From Ashes was released at the same time. The files already in the game were most likely for development or testing purposes.


As for the DLC itself, I think it is good DLC. Without it, the game would still be complete. If anything, Javik is an offshoot of the main story. The real value of Javik is that he provides good Prothean perspective to situations. He doesn't add to the war effort in assets or give you some super secret about the Protheans. In fact, he himself is not was knowledgeable as the Protheans all to much either (He's just a soldier) and only experienced Prothean culture in its dying hours. In this way, Javik is as not vital to the lore of the game as postulated by a lot of people, but still interesting. He's a good character alone, too.

Mass Effect 3 is a good game, and I feel that it was worth the money that I paid for it. Can I say that I like what EA has been doing recently? No, but because I don't like EA doesn't mean I won't buy Mass Effect 3 and finish a series that I've engrossed myself in to. I want to support Bioware, but more importantly, I want to play their games.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

Out of all the voice actors in the game, Martin Sheen as The Illusive Man really did a great job. That man needs awards. Is my opinion.

[The Number None]

Spoiler:

Mordin's sacrifice

was probably the saddest thing I've ever witnessed. Great game. The ending was a bit weird, sure. I'll have to play it again... didn't really understand what was going on.

[Spiney]

Spoiler:

So sayeth the internet.

[Stormborn]

Spoiler:

Mordin's sacrifice

was probably the saddest thing I've ever witnessed. Great game. The ending was a bit weird, sure. I'll have to play it again... didn't really understand what was going on.

All props to Bioware I thought they handled it really well, although I

Spoiler:

I saw the reaper being killed by the giant thresher maw coming a mile a way.

[Stormborn]

I really don't like James Vega, wish Bioware had ditched the human crew members (the active squad members) altogether the only ones in three games I liked is Jacob and Jack. Is it just me or does Jack's new haircut makes her look likes she is one of the Hardy boyz (WWF tag team) circa 1999/2000.

[Veck]

Wait a second, somebody actually likes Jacob?

By the almighty Bosh'tet, my perception of the universe has changed.

[Red Guardian]

Jacob's cool. The only reason he's "boring" is because there must be a "normal individual" in the game.

[The Number None]

Jacob's alright but nowhere as cool as James imo.

[The Tom]

I like James Vega. I didn't think I would but I do. He's funny and extremely well-acted.

I actually have the From Ashes DLC. There was a code for it in the copy my dad found and I won't question where it came from because I paid good (second-hand) money for it.

Spoiler:

Javik is a typical fish-out-of-water character with some hilarious comments about the current races from the time of his cycle and offers a lot of ancient galactic history. Which is why it stings all the more that he's not part of the standard game. Loads of players will want the extras he offers so it's a clever if [&@%!] marketing ploy to offer him as downloadable content. It's a shame it has to be that way.